By Commodity News Service Canada
Winnipeg, July 31 – The Canadian dollar opened lower against its
US counterpart on Wednesday, undermined by underwhelming Canadian
economic data, market watchers said.
According to Statistics Canada, the gross domestic product for May
grew 0.2%, which is lower than the 0.3% increase that economists had
forecast.
Further weakness came from positive US economic data that showed
the second-quarter GDP grew at a rate of 1.7%, which is 0.7% higher
than expected.
Traders are also looking ahead to this afternoon’s US Federal
Reserve announcement on interest rates.
At 8:33 CDT Wednesday, the Canadian dollar was at US$0.9697 or
US$=C$1.0312 which compares with Thursday’s North American close of
US$0.9707, or US$=C$1.0302.
Gains in commodities, including copper and crude oil, helped to
limit the loonie’s losses.
The TSX was up 49.95 points Wednesday morning at 8:33 CDT, to sit
at 12,631.70.
